For All Riders, at All Levels... "Get Happy! Ride Right!"

The philosophy of "Riding Right" is simple. Riding a motorcycle is supposed to be fun, and a large part of having fun involves riding safely. My intentions for Get Riding Right! are to help all riders, at all levels, do just that. Yes, scooters too. If I can help folks keep a positive attitude, and master the basic skills, they are on their way to a wonderful relationship with their motorcycle.

My instruction promotes the riding skills and a defensive mindset that instills confidence in handling your machine, and interacting with others on the road.

Could you benefit? If you ride, the answer is Yes!It is a well documented fact that periodic refresher training is critical to keeping your skills sharp. This is why pilots, law enforcement, and first responders, among others, are required to take periodic refresher training, which involves going back to basics. So no matter your level of experience the lessons are more or less the same.

The goal is to improve your motorcycling skills by reinforcing proper technique, which corrects those potentially harmful bad habits that may creep into your riding style. It also gives you exposure to the evasive, “bacon-saving” maneuvers that most of us don't use on a regular basis. These evasive moves are the most important, but sadly the most lacking skills among riders.

North Carolina Motorcycle Safety Factssource NCDMV

Motorcycles represent about 2 percent of all registered vehicles in North Carolina, but account for about 10 percent of all fatalities on our roads.

As of September 1, 2007, 63 percent of all crashes involving motorcycles were single vehicle crashes (motorcycle only).

Of those crashes involving other vehicles, over half (53 percent) were the fault of the motorcyclist.

Of those crashed where the motorcyclist was at fault, 81 percent occurred when the rider crossed the centerline either while passing another vehicle or while negotiating a curve.

Of those crashes where the other vehicle was at fault, 57 percent were failure to yield the right of way at an intersection and 43 percent were turning left across the motorcyclist path of travel.

The majority (82.7 percent) of fatal motorcyle crashes were the motorcyclist fault.